IMF official suggests public sector needs to lead on infrastructure

Tokyo

BOLD plans for public infrastructure investment outlined by US president-elect Donald Trump, which are expected to be copied in other advanced economies such as Britain and Japan, have received strong endorsement from a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Public investment is an important catalyst for growth," said recently appointed IMF deputy managing director Tao Zhang during a speech in which he challenged the orthodoxy of recent decades, that the main thrust of infrastructure investment should come from the private sector.